The visitors, who arrived at Moss Lane late after being held up on the motorway delaying the kick-off by 15 minutes, gifted Alty a 22nd-minute lead when defender Darren Searle turned the ball past his own keeper.

And when winger Colin Potts made it 2-0 early in the second-half, Heathcote's men appeared to be cruising.

But Forest Green were handed a lifeline with Paul Wanless converting a penalty awarded for a seemingly innocuous challenge by Val Owen and Alty were grateful to hang on for their first points of the season.

Heathcote said: "That was the poorest of our three performances but at least we got the win and we're off the mark."

Stalybridge were left shellshocked after being sunk by two goals in the last three minutes in their Nationwide North derby at Leigh RMI.

Bridge looked on course for their first win when Lee Ellington calmly slotted them in front midway through the second-half, but Leigh came roaring back with late strikes by substitute Chris Simm and skipper Andy Roscoe, taking their points total to six from a possible nine.

Droylsden remain unbeaten following a 1-1 draw at Moor Green but were left to reflect on two points wasted.

The Bloods were punished for failing to add to Robbie Talbot's 17th-minute opener when they conceded a sloppy equaliser and, to make matters worse, they had Gareth Morris sent off.

Hyde slipped to the foot of the table with a 3-1 home defeat by early pacesetters Stafford after Steve Brackenbridge had briefly put them ahead.

But Northwich are already justifying their billing as championship favourites, moving up to third with goals by Jonny Allan and Paul Brayson wrecking Barrow's 100 per cent start.

Relegated Ashton United made an unhappy return to the UniBond premier, surrendering a two-goal lead courtesy of debutant Chris Denham and Paul Garvey in crashing 4-2 to North Ferriby.

Radcliffe, too, started with a home loss, going down 1-0 to Matlock at the newly-renamed Inn2Gether Stadium.